THE DEVON BREED. 347 



adapted to active labour. Their shoulders have that obli- 

 quity which enables them to lift freely their fore extremities ; 

 and their quarters behind are relatively long, which is a cha- 

 racter connected in the Ox, as in the Horse, with the power 

 of active motion. Their bodies, too, are light, and their limbs 

 long, muscular to the hock and knee, and below these joints 

 sinewy. These cattle, then, although wanting in the power 

 of heavy draught which the larger Oxen can exert, have the 

 faculty of muscular exertion in a higher degree. They trot 

 well in harness, and will keep pace with a horse in the or- 

 dinary labours of the farm. They are largely employed 

 throughout the county of Devon for the purposes of labour, 

 usually four together, and mostly attached by the yoke and 

 not by the collar. The team of the labouring Oxen in this 

 beautiful county is one of the charms of the rural landscape. 

 A boy accompanies the ploughman and his team to drive the 

 Oxen. He chaunts continually a simple melody in low notes 

 rising to the higher. From morn to night this simple song 

 is heard, the ploughman putting in from time to time his 

 lower notes in happy keeping. The beasts seem cheered by 

 the music ; and from hour to hour the team may be observed 

 in motion, without a harsh word being uttered by the plough- 

 man or his youthful companion.* 



Although the Devon Ox presents a symmetry of parts 

 which pleases the eye, yet his form is not precisely that which 

 the breeder seeks for in an animal destined to fatten quickly 

 and arrive at great weight. His neck is too long, his chest 

 is too narrow, his sides are too flat, his limbs are too long 

 in proportion to his body, or, in other words, his body is too 

 small in proportion to his height. The Devon Ox is a kindly 

 enough feeder, but he requires good pastures and a some- 

 what favourable climate, and could barely subsist on food 

 which would suffice to fatten some of the hardier mountain 

 breeds of nearly his own size. 



* Mr Youatt, Library of Useful Knowledge. 



